The All New Don't Think of an Elephant!: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate

Completely revised and updated to tackle today's issues, the 10th Anniversary Edition not only explains what framing is and how it works but also reveals why, after a brief stint of winning the framing wars in the 2008 elections, the Democrats have gone back to losing them, and what can be done about it. In this powerful new volume, George Lakoff delves into the issues that will dominate the midterm elections in 2014, the coming presidential elections, and beyond.

Mary Hassan says:"Really enjoyable"

Publisher's Summary

A professor emeritus of philosophy at Princeton University, Harry G. Frankfurt penned a surprise smash hit with his New York Times best seller On Bullshit, which insightfully and wittily captured the human capacity for, and tendency toward, BS. Now he examines the other side of the coin with this equally entertaining and provocative follow-up.

As Frankfurt showed previously, bullshit lies within the realm of subjective perception. Truth, then, is what we find beyond this realm. But are we, as a people, willing to allow ourselves to be governed by honest principles? Could it be possible that we lack the commitment to acting morally and truthfully?

Using his trademark skill at sharing philosophical insights with a general audience, Frankfurt examines these and other questions in this informative audiobook.

I bought this audiobook, having enjoyed Harry Frankfurt's classic essay "On BS" (which would make an excellent audiobook on Audible!). However, although he makes some good points towards "On Truth", and it is well narrated, I ended up disappointed.

This book is really an appendix to his previous work, probably in response to criticism that he never discussed why truth was worth striving for.

Frankfurt takes a Pragmatist line on justifying the value of "Truth" - it is useful! Firstly because without it, reality is harder to navigate, secondly, that lying undermines trust, and the self image of our lied-to friends, and thirdly, that love of truth expands the soul (Spinoza). Post modernist relativism (that there is no truth), is Frankfurt's special bête noir, a chapter which I thoroughly enjoyed.

However, it is only briefly at the end that he goes into the more interesting aspects of truth and untruth, such as in the Shakespeare sonnet, where two lovers flatter each other, each knowing the other is being untruthful, yet this knowledge only enhances their love "...and so, together we shall lie".

By using a Pragmatist justification, Frankfurt never grapples with the issue that BS and untruth can also be useful, and therefore are presumably justified e.g. for the child who learns to tell their first lie to avoid punishment (an important developmental step), for the fraudster, who lies for gain, for the skilled Sophist who's clever BS win's an argument, for Kant worrying whether to lie to protect a friend from a murderer, or the white lies to save another's feelings.

He also never gets onto the fascinating aspects of partial truth such as: perspectivism, spin-doctoring, selective statistics or being economical with the truth, and this feels like an opportunity missed.

So, in summary, "On Truth" makes some good points, and is narrated well, but falls well short of being a worthy sequel to his more famous essay "On B******t".

This is pretty academic, and unfortunately the narration really drives that home. Nevertheless, this is as good a treatise on truth as one could hope for: any more concise and it would barely scratch the surface; any longer and it becomes mired in endless examples and repetition.

This isn't for everyone, but if you're interested in a philosophical meditation on truth this should be right up your alley.

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